Speeches

We know that more than 90 percent of the adult population in the developing world is unbanked. And more than 2 billion of these unbanked individuals are already using mobile phones in deeply innovative ways. In fact, I’ve seen the real potential for this work myself not far outside of Nairobi, where I met a dairy farmer named Gitau who didn’t have access to the electric grid or running water. But by using a mobile phone app called iCOW, he could invest in his business, vaccinate his animals, improve their feedstock, and track milk output and local prices. “Information is power,” he told me.

There’s an exciting opportunity here for those of us working in this field. An opportunity to usher in a new era of development by forming public-private partnerships that change the way we do business—while expanding opportunity to millions. That’s why we came together to build a network called the Better Than Cash Alliance—to accelerate the adoption of electronic payments around the world and to bring electronic payments and mobile money into our USAID programming with an eye towards greater gender equality and financial inclusion.

Time and again, the U.S. Agency for International Development has turned to the researchers, professors, and students here at FIU to help us tackle some of the greatest challenges of our time: from minimizing the risk of disasters in El Salvador to ensuring the sustainability of some of our most precious natural resources, like the Mara River in Tanzania. It’s a partnership that has not only grown over time, but has delivered some extraordinary results for people around the world.

In the late 1980s, FIU and USAID partnered on the Agency’s first major media initiative, which focused on training journalists across Latin America in investigative journalism and election coverage. Within a few years, it brought media owners and journalists together to produce the first journalist ethics code for Central America. This effort built on a long-standing partnership—dating back to 1984—to strengthen the capacity of justice systems in Latin American countries.

HANOI -- Good morning. It is my great pleasure to help open the seventh annual meeting of the Joint Advisory Committee. I would like to thank Deputy Minister Tuyen for hosting this meeting in your new headquarters building. I would also like to recognize the international partners who have joined us this morning, including representatives from the United Nations, the Czech Republic, and New Zealand.

USAID has been very happy to partner with the American Bar Association and the Addis Ababa University Law School in the development and publication of five legal textbooks authored by Ethiopian legal experts. I am especially proud of this collaboration since this is the first set of textbooks to be revised in 40 years. This is a remarkable and commendable achievement. I congratulate the authors who are faculty at Addis Ababa University and St. Mary's College--Ato Getachew Assefa, Ato Muradu Abdo, Ato Elias Stebek, Ato Wondwossen Demissie and Ato Fikremarian Merso.

Thank you to the Government of Ethiopia, particularly to the Ministry of Agriculture for hosting this workshop along with the Agricultural Transformation Agency and the Joint Sector Working Group for Rural Economic Development and Food Security which is co-chaired by the Ministry, the World Bank, and USAID. Welcome to all participants, particularly my fellow G-8 colleagues, private sector partners, and other new and potential partners in this grand New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Ethiopia.

At USAID, we believe we have the opportunity today build a new, more open model for development that builds on our strong legacy of university engagement to solve some of the greatest development challenges of our time. In food security, that challenge is more pressing than ever. By 2050, the world will need to double agricultural production in order to feed a world of 9 billion people. At the same time, a changing climate will lead to warmer temperatures, more erratic rains, and longer more severe droughts.

Here in Mississippi, you know this better than anyone. The Mississippi river has fallen to near record lows—and a stretch of the mighty river near Greenville has had to close briefly. And rural communities across the country continue to feel pressure from a parched land. But the truth is that our nation has some remarkable systems in place to support farmers and ranchers in a time of significant drought. They can buy insurance products, access our government’s real-time data monitoring, and count on the USDA and universities like MSU to study the problem and foster new solutions.

The United States, President Obama and Secretary Clinton, have been very clear that we are calling on the Assad regime to end its brutal treatment and attacks on its own people. And President Obama has also asked us, the United States, to do everything we can to support the critical humanitarian needs that are in this region.

That's why we've already provided more than $82 million of support for humanitarian priorities, reaching more than 700,000 Syrians with food, water and medical support. And that's why, today, I'm quite pleased to announce an additional $21 million commitment. In this case to our colleagues at the World Food Programme, who are taking responsibility for providing effective food access to people who are in dire need, here in this camp, throughout parts of Syria and in other parts of the region.

VINH PHUC, Vietnam -- USAID is pleased to sponsor this set of two workshops this week to give Vietnam National Assembly members and staff the chance to hear first-hand reports from Vietnam's trade negotiators on the progress of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, and to hear from experts in law, economics, and business as they share their insights on the challenges and opportunities that the TPP represents for Vietnam.

It is a pleasure and a privilege to join you today at this workshop on the role of the National Assembly in Vietnam's budget decision-making and oversight. This workshop and other support we are providing to the Institute of Legislative Studies recognizes that the National Assembly Standing Committee, in 2008, established the ILS as the leading center of research, information and policy analysis for the National Assembly.